Wednesday at the Multiplex
by Vampire Reader
Summary: The LA vampire community are under attack by the Legion. They are finding new homes. Guillermo used to be the lead character's dealer in morgue blood, but now, he's relocated and has to find some of his own. The sun is hot in Brooklyn.
1. Chapter 1

Wednesday at the Muliplex

Guillermo moved forward on the line at the theater. Multiplexes were everywhere now, so very different from the Old Grauman's Chinese or the Egyptian on Hollywood Boulevard. He had loved those huge theaters, especially their air conditioning units. Now, jobless, he had nowhere else to sleep. He knew relocating was going to be difficult. He'd have to adjust to another city, find another job. If he tried for morgue assistant at Kings County Hospital, his past might creep up on him. He did not want to be noticed. This was Brooklyn. New sights and sounds, a different kind of night-life. There had to be somewhere he could put his skills to use and get his blood. Vampires have needs.

He had fled Los Angeles while it was still possible, before the Legion caught up with him and his buddies. When the killings began, the vampire community had scattered all over the United States. A few of his brother vamps were glad to take him to live with them. In the name of vampire solidarity, he now had an address, but there was no extra freezer space. For him, it was back to the movie theaters for the day, to sleep until twilight if he was lucky. The sun was climbing high and the shade was minimal.

A young woman jostled him on the line. "Sorry," she said.

"No problem."

"Are you out of work too?"

Guillermo gave her a wry smile. "I guess that would explain why we're both on line to see a movie at 11:00 in the morning, on a Wednesday." He wanted to say more, maybe make a friend out of the woman, but the sun was draining his energy. Even his sunglasses and long sleeved jacket couldn't block out the rays. He turned up his collar. He'd have to get inside soon. The line moved up as patrons purchased their tickets.

"Do you like vampire movies?" the woman asked. Before he could respond, she answered her own question. "I guess you must or you would have picked a different movie." Guillermo looked up at the marquee. "**The Return of Dracula**," it said. He'd only picked it because the line looked the shortest. "It's a revival. I guess vampires are back in style since Moonlight was cancelled. If only CBS had listened to the fans. I mean – it was the best drama on television; it won People's Choice award. What's the matter with television executives? What does it take to get a fantastic show renewed for another season? It makes me want to cry."

"Really?" Now, he had to introduce himself to the woman. "My name is Juan Lopez from Puerto Rico. What's yours?"

"Penina Spinka from around the corner." They moved up another few steps. Why would there be a line for any theater on a Wednesday morning? Guillermo wondered, when a flash of movement caught his eye. A teen grazed the line, excusing himself for knocking into people. It seemed Penina was fiddling with her purse, searching for her wallet to pay at the ticket window, when the teen noticed she had removed the purse straps from her shoulder. It was an easy grab. "Hey!"

The boy was gone, purse held tight against his chest as he ran across the street. Penina screamed, but the traffic was against anyone catching the thief. Suddenly, Juan Lopez disappeared. She hadn't seen him move. There was the sound of a scuffle from across the street. Apparently someone had dialed 9-1-1 because seconds later, a cop car flashed its lights and came to stop. How had Juan gotten there that fast?

When the cop came to Penina for a statement, she told them all she knew, that the boy had come up beside her unseen. "Lucky for you some good soul was looking this way and saw what happened. He grabbed the thief and held him until we got there. "Here's your purse back, ma'am."

She thanked the cop and was paying for her ticket when Juan appeared again beside her. "I lost my place in line," he told the couple behind them. "Remember, I was right here." No one challenged him. He paid for his own ticket and walked in beside Penina. "Care to sit with me?" She did not shrug away his hand when he placed it on her elbow and guided her in up the stairs to a pair of seats near the air conditioning unit in the back of the balcony.

"How did you get across the street that fast?" she whispered. "I never saw you move." The lights went down and the title emblazoned itself across the screen with special effect smoke and torches. **The Return of Dracula**, it said. Blood dripped from the red gothic letters while eerie violin music set the mood for the classic feature to come.

"Let me tell you about real vampires," Guillermo said, and pulled her close.


	2. Chapter 2

Wednesday at the Multiplex

5

Wednesday at the Multiplex

Chapter 2

"You're joking, right?" Penina asked. "No one can say a thing like that unless they're joking."

Guillermo had blown his chance -- so much for the direct approach. He removed his arm from the backrest of her seat. It was a lot less complicated when he drank the morgue blood where he used to work, or attended Josef's parties at his mansion for the occasional willing freshy. Josef instituted that concept, but everyone loved it, freshies and vampires alike. No awkwardness there. Damn, but he missed L.A.

Penina was still waiting for his reply instead of watching the screen. "Of course I was joking," he said. He'd just have to settle for the bottled blood in his vamp buddy's freezer, the stuff he kept around for emergencies. He'd just have to defrost it when he got home after his day's sleep. "Everyone knows there's no such thing as vampires."

"You do know about Moonlight," Penina said in triumph. "That was the first episode."

"Yeah. I guess I do know the show," Guillermo admitted. Why did she have to know about it? He'd nearly gotten lucky.

"I hoped you could take a joke, seeing as you like this stuff." He pointed at the screen. Christopher Lee's studio-constructed fangs were so thick, if they were real, the bite itself would have killed, never mind the blood loss. Guillermo moved his tongue over his own slender incisors. They came to a small point on each side. "How can the man even talk?"

Penina laughed. Guillermo hadn't realized he'd said that out loud. He turned to her and sniffed pheromones. Was she actually aroused at the idea of vampires? Stop it, he told himself. It's been too long since you had a freshy. You're imagining things.

"Let me see your fangs," Penina whispered.

Guillermo backed away and would have blushed if he could. "What is it with you aggressive humans females?" he whispered, and then wished he could take the words back before Penina realized his attempt at humor was far too real.

"I knew you were joking," she said, but she sounded disappointed. "Too bad."

They watched the movie for several minutes without speaking, but the smell of the woman's arousal was too strong for Guillermo to keep pretending to ignore. His incisors were elongating into fangs. He so wanted a taste of her, but it was probably a bad idea. Although no one in the crowded theater was sitting near them, he didn't want Penina to scream and alert anyone. He shifted his eyes slightly to the side. Penina was smiling a secret kind of smile. He wished it were true that vampires could read minds.

"Juan," she said. "Is that your real name?"

For a moment, Guillermo feared she was a member of the Legion, the group that was exterminating the vampires of L.A., and that he was on her short list. He checked her jacket for stakes and sniffed for silver -- poison to vamps, and found neither. Neither did he see a bulge long enough to be a knife in her purse or jacket. The Legion was known for their propensity to behead their victims. He did not want to be its first victim in Brooklyn since the last purge, but he found no sign that she was carrying a weapon worthy of that task.

"Juan is my name," Guillermo replied. It was what all his false documents said. For the present, he turned his head so she couldn't read his lips and added in decibels below human hearing range. "Why would you even ask me that?" Guillermo was wondering if he should simply disappear. It wouldn't be difficult. Getting her purse back had created this problem. She hadn't seen him move at vamp speed, but nothing else made sense.

Penina touched his hand. "You're cold," she said.

"It's the A/C. You're cold too." He touched her arm and felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the A/C, but neither mentioned moving away from it. Guillermo again tried to focus on the movie. Of all the movies he might have stumbled into, this one was the worst. He stole another look at Penina and wondered again if he was the predator or the quarry, or if he should get out before he got into more trouble than he could talk his way out of.

Penina wrapped her fingers around his arm. "Don't leave," she said, as if she knew what he was thinking.

"Why not?"

"Because I want you to be real. Make me believe in you." To Guillermo's astonishment, she lifted her wrist, palm up, the universal signal of a freshy indicating her willingness to donate her blood to her vampire of the evening.

"No joke?"

"No joke."

Moonlight fans know much too much, he thought. At this point, he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He guided her wrist to his mouth, holding it steady, and bent to take what she was offering. A few minutes later, he left her, covered with his jacket and still sighing with the pleasure his nature delivered in exchange for freely given human blood.

When he returned, his hands were full. "First, here is a damp paper towel for your wrist. Let me help." She held up her wrist again. He licked it clean of blood, and then wrapped it tight with the paper towel to stop the flow. "Now, here's a tub of salted popcorn and a large Cola for the lady. Drink up. You need to replenish your fluids and electrolytes."

"You'd know," Penina quipped languidly.

Moonlight fans knew more than they should, Guillermo thought again, but sometimes, that was not a bad thing.

She accepted his offerings and swallowed a big gulp of Cola. "I think we're going to be good friends as long as you stay in Brooklyn, Juan," she said.

"I hope so," he replied.

5


End file.
